A "404" error message is one of the most common issues webmasters are likely to come across and it simply means that the page you are trying to access doesn't exist.
On a Wordpress website a 404 error on internal pages usually means that your mod rewrite rules either don't exist or are set up incorrectly. There are two ways to fix this:
By editing the .htaccess file
The Wordpress mod_rewrite rules are contained in the .htaccess file for your website. If your rewrite rules have been removed or damaged you can re-add them by opening up your .htaccess file either in the cPanel File manager, your preferred FTP client or your favourite SSH text editor and adding the following code:
# BEGIN WordPress
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
# END WordPress
By saving your permalinks
If you aren't comfortable with editing your sites .htaccess file you can automatically recreate the Wordpress mod_rewrite rules from within your Wordpress admin area.
- Click on "Settings"
- Click on "Permalinks"
- Click on "Save"
Please note that you don't need to make any changes to the actual permalink structure, just clicking on the "Save" button will re-add the Wordpress rewrite rules to your .htaccess file.
Regardless of which method you choose, once the default Wordpress rewrite rules are present in your .htaccess file your 404 issues will be resolved.
